Captain Zdeno Chara taking a realistic approach

The question lingers: are the Boston Bruins capable of recovering the mojo that's gone missing?

MICK COLAGEO

The question lingers: are the Boston Bruins capable of recovering the mojo that's gone missing?

We're not talking about that lucky, clicking on all cylinders, catching opponents when they're down kind of thing. We're not referring to those invincible November-December streaks that highlighted their 2008-09 (24-2-1) and 2011-12 (21-3-2) seasons — and made a return appearance for the opening two months of this one (13-2-2).

We're not talking about any of that.

It's about that quiet confidence the Bruins exude during the double-clutch of a stalemate, their ability to out-fox, out-grind, out-muscle and out-determine the other team.

The 2010-11 Bruins who won the Stanley Cup were not perfect — far from it. But they had a special kind of ability to forget, move on and elevate their game when it mattered most.

"I have no rearview mirror," team president Cam Neely likes to say — or at least he did in 2011.

Can it be true now, knowing where they're been and how hard it is to get back there?

"There's no question we're making a little bit more mistakes now than maybe ... that year, but maybe it is because there is maybe some nights, it's a physical tiredness or a mental tiredness," said Bruins captain Zdeno Chara after Thursday night's home-ice loss to the New York Islanders.

The Bruins were playing their third game in four nights against an improving young team desperate to make the playoffs for the first time in six years. The sledding has been tough but, as Chara points out, it's the same for everyone in the long view.

"Everybody knew that it's going to be heavy, it's going to be a lot of games in such a short time," he said. "Now we're coming towards the end of the season and, yeah, it's not easy. But, like I've been saying, it's not an excuse. Everybody has the same schedule.

"I think we're in a good spot. We need to get better in certain areas of our game, and make sure that we get everything that we need going to the playoffs."

The important thing that connects the minds inside the Bruins dressing room to the ones that walk together forever because of June 15, 2011, is their ongoing belief in personal and collective improvement. Had this not been the Bruins' mentality in 2010, for instance, that historic loss to Philadelphia would have resulted in firings and trades, the kind that take teams years to make up the ground that's lost.

To their credit, when frustration is boiling over around them, the Bruins keep it positive.

"It's not that we're going to be, 'OK, who made the mistake?' It's going to be, 'How do we react after that mistake? How are we going to cover up for our teammate?'" Chara said. "I don't think anybody has a perfect season, and I think those teams that do have, well good for them. But, you know, you can't play a perfect season. That's just the way it goes."

The illusion of perfection visits the Bruins for a spell in almost every season, and between those segments and the memories of 2011 it seems they're always getting measured against that moment when Brad Marchand planted that empty-net goal in the Vancouver net.

The things to remember, says Chara, is that was also a team that made mistakes.

"How are you going to prevent it? It's not like anybody's doing it purposely," he said. "You've got to realize, you want to make a play, everybody's trying to make the play that's in your system. But sometimes it's not even a mistake, it's just the other team reacting to it. It's just the way it is. You just try your best to not (be) making (mistakes) and trying to make plays.

"You're going to have some tough stretches. I thought the last few games and number of games, we battled through them. I thought (against the Islanders) we really battled hard, we really did. It was the third game in four nights. You could tell at the end that we were running out of energy, but we started the game really well. This is a positive thing moving forward, towards the next game."

The next game is another potential playoff-spot clincher, as the Bruins visit Carolina Hurricanes today in Raleigh, N.C. (7 p.m., NESN, 98.5, 1420). Eight games remain before the playoffs, we'll soon know if they can relocate that elusive quality that made them champions two years ago.

Mick Colageo covers hockey for The Standard-Times. Contact him at mcolageo@s-t.com and visit Rink Rap at blogs.southcoasttoday.com/bruins